Gudrun Harrer in conversation with Harit Hasan: IRAQ’S POLITICAL TRAJECTORIES AFTER THE PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION

Iraq voted on October 10th of last year, in snap elections meant
to address the causes of the nationwide protests of 2019 which
toppled the previous government. Lengthy government formation
processes are not unusual in Iraq, however, it seems that the
elections of 2021 brought to an end the informal agreements –
also within confessional and ethnical groups – which dominated
the political landscape since the first elections in 2005 after
Saddam Hussein’s fall. What could have been seen as a hope for
normalization of politics in Iraq, led to a constitutional
impasse and threatens the stability of the country.
    


Harith Hasan is a senior researcher at the
Emirates Policy Center and non-resident fellow at the Carnegie
Middle East Center. His research focuses on Iraq and the Middle
East.   


Gudrun Harrer, Senior Editor at Der Standard,
Lecturer on Modern History and Politics of the Middle East,
University of Vienna and Diplomatic Academy of Vienna  


Recorded on ZOOM, May 17, 2022